“Yo, Llenn. Welcome back.”
“Ugh…”
Llenn was dangling next to Shirley. Upside down.
She knew exactly why.
She’d been climbing up the rope as fast as she could and reached the top before anyone else, but the wind from the blast hit her just before she reached flat ground and knocked her back.
It tossed her back outside of the castle keep area, but since the rope was still tied, she did not fall ten thousand feet to her death. She only fell twelve.
But now she was upside down. The force of her fall caused the rope to dig into her waist and thighs somewhat painfully.
“After I did all the work to climb up,” she grumbled, staring down at the sky overhead.
“You went up a bit too early.”
“Grrr…”
Shirley had not climbed up at all. She’d figured that even though it was a straight-pull reload that was generally quick to execute, having only a bolt-action rifle to fight with would make it impossible for her to get up safely.
So she had told them that she had no intention of climbing up. She was just going to relax and hide here. If they found her, they found her. But she didn’t want to just sit there and get shot, and she didn’t want her gun to get broken, so she’d cut her rope with the ken-nata and enjoy ten thousand feet of skydiving instead.
“Aw! Shirley, remember all the snap shooting you did while running around in SJ3?!” Clarence protested, referring to their rather extreme encounter there.
“That was because I started in a very advantageous position that time. Plus, I’m just tired,” Shirley said. She was no fun.
And yet, she did lift Llenn’s head and body until she was able to get her footing against the wall. “Here, start with your left foot.”
“Thanks! I’ll go back up there!”
“You do that.”
Llenn attempted her second climb of the wall.
She looked up and saw that the others were nearly to the mountain of rubble at the top. She had to get up there with them and beat ZEMAL and MMTM while they were at least somewhat damaged.
Her gloved hands grasped the rope. Quickly, she began shimmying back up, her eyes skyward.
Which is how she saw the many bullet lines extending over their heads above.
“Look out, Boss!”
Boss had been the first member of SHINC to the top. She turned and reached for Anna, which is why she did not see the lines at first.
“Huh? Gah!”
A bullet passed through her shoulder.
She dropped to the ground, ensuring that she didn’t get hit by any others, but Anna was unable to get all the way up. Which was for the better, actually. The bullets flew directly over the rubble, deflecting off of stone.
“Awww…” Llenn sighed heavily. She couldn’t see over the lip, but she could guess what was happening.
The survivors of ZEMAL and MMTM—probably many of them—were closing in on them, shooting heavily.
At this point, they wouldn’t be able to look over, much less fight back. She could envision an imminent future in which their enemies would climb over the rubble with guns pointed, shooting their helpless targets.
“It’s over…”
She stopped climbing.
Above and to her left, Fukaziroh had her grenade launchers hanging from her shoulders on slings. She smiled and said briskly, “Well, we did what we could.”
Her partner’s smile lured Llenn into a smile as well. They had done all they could. If they died here, even Pito would understand.
Not that there was any need for her to understand. She was her own person!
“Yeah, I guess,” Llenn murmured. “We did well. I did well, and you guys did well.”
Maybe it was okay to just let it end here.
“Now, I’d like that million yen more than anyone else, so I’m thinking of putting you down now. Would you be a dear and climb up level with me, so I can hit you with my pistol?”
“Screw you!”
Llenn changed her mind.
Dammit! I can’t let it end here! she decided.
“We’re not dead yet! Fuka, hurry up and reload your grenades, then focus on the enemy and git!”
“Well, how about that?” Fukaziroh grinned. “You said ‘git!’ Is that the Hokkaido in you talking?”
Llenn ignored her friend and snapped, “Clarence! Climb up and shoot for all you’re worth!” She was already near the top anyway, in a different spot than Boss and the SHINC girls.
“Um, so you want me to get shot?” she replied.
“Just buy Fuka time to reload! I’ll find your bones and bury them later!”
“Ha-ha-ha! This Llenn is abusive!” Clarence exclaimed with delight. She pulled herself up the rope.
“And Boss! You guys just shoot back! We’re not dead yet! So don’t act like it!”
“You got it!” Boss replied, crawling on her stomach in the rubble with a glowing shoulder wound. She helped Anna and Tohma reach the top, too.
And between the enemy’s bursts of shooting—not that there really were any pauses—she tried to toss a grenade. She only had ordinary grenades on her belt, to prevent a catastrophe if they got hit, and she gave some to Tohma and Anna, too.
Hidden by the rubble, they pulled the pins on the three grenades, kept the levers depressed, swung their arms behind, and started a count of “Un, deux, trois!”
It didn’t matter if the grenades didn’t reach their targets, as long as they bought some time. But they did not actually let go.
Right at that moment, ZEMAL’s machine gun spray reached their area, destroying the stone right at the top of the heap ahead and passing through to pierce all three of their throwing arms.
“Argh!”
“Gah!”
“Ow!”
They suffered just enough damage that it didn’t sever the limbs. The grenades they failed to throw dropped from their hands. The safety levers flew off, and the grenades fell backward, hit more stone, deflected—and began to fall ten thousand feet.
“Huh? Eeeep!” Llenn shrieked, and she saw a trio of grenades pass just on her left as she was climbing up her rope.
And in their path was another teammate.
“Huh?”
Shirley looked up and saw three grenades, falling directly toward her.
“Oh, come on, this is the punch line?” she squawked—her final words.
The grenades exploded in short order right beneath her feet, enveloping her in shrapnel and explosive force.
There was no player who could survive something like that.